Conrad Martin Metz

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Imitations of Ancient And Modern Drawings, 1789
The Triumph of Bacchus, etching after Raffael, 1789

Conrad Martin Metz (* 1749 in Bonn ; † December 16, 1827 in Rome ) was a German painter, draftsman and engraver .

Life

Metz was the son of the painter Johann Martin Metz (1717–1789) and Maria Margaretha Metz born. Poettgers. He was baptized on November 11, 1749 in St. Remigius in Bonn (the exact date of birth is unknown). His father was the court painter of the Bonn Elector Clemens August (1700–1761). Metz received his first drawing lessons from his father. Metz probably traveled to London in 1771 with his father and older sister Gertrudis (copperplate engraver, 1746–1793), as his entry into the school of the Royal Academy of Arts is recorded as early as 1772 . Other sources report that the Metz family moved to London in 1781.

According to Nagler , who calls him “a famous artist in his field”, Metz was color blind and so “above all he had to stick to the art of drawing”.

In London he became a student of Francesco Bartolozzi . In addition to a large number of drawings with mythological and biblical subjects, portraits and an abundance of copperplate engravings and aquatints according to old masters, he published instructions for learning the art of drawing and contributed to the illustration of several books.

In 1801, Metz traveled from London to Rome to spend the last 26 years of his life here in the European center of art. Here he created his main work, the large-format sequence of engravings based on Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel . Goethe acquired these sheets in October 1819 and, as he noted in his diary, paid special attention to them. These sheets are stamped “Goethe's possession” and “Goethe-National-Museum Weimar” and today belong to the graphic collection of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bonner Geschichtsblätter, Volume 59, Page 86, Jochem and Tina Rudersdorf, Conrad Metz - A Bonn artist in London and Rome
  2. ^ Johann Jakob Merlo:  Metz, Johann Martin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 529.
  3. ↑ Georg Kaspar Nagler , New general artist lexicon or news from the life and works of painters, sculptors, builders, copper engravers, form cutters, lithographers, draftsmen, medalists, ivory workers, etc. Volume 10, page 240 ff
  4. ^ Works by CM Metz in the inventory catalog of the Royal Academy of Arts in London
  5. ^ Illustrations of the engravings after Michelangelo in the British Museum
  6. ↑ The ideal artificial body: Johann Wolfgang Goethe as a collector of prints and drawings, page 177, Johannes Grave, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2007


personal data
SURNAME Metz, Conrad Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and engraver
DATE OF BIRTH baptized November 11, 1749
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1827
Place of death Rome